Benito Carbone completed his loan move to Middlesbrough - and then promptly disappeared.

Benito Carbone completed his loan move to Middlesbrough - and then promptly disappeared.

The 30-year-old Italian side-stepped a press conference yesterday afternoon with the sort of manoeuvre which will serve him well on the pitch as the media waited to hear his views on the chance the Teessiders have handed him to win a permanent deal.

It was left to manager Steve McClaren to make his excuses - shyness, remarkably, was the major one - and explain the role he hopes the much-travelled striker will play at the Riverside Stadium.

"He's a player I've had in my mind for a long time now," he said.

"I remember coming across him at Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa and Bradford, and I watched him closely when he went to Derby. He is a player I'm pleased to have acquired the services of.

"You always need a link between the midfield and the front players - call it a second striker - and Beni has certainly got the ability to do that, not just to score goals but also to create for others.

"At the present time we're just able to really get him until the end of the season and review the matter then, but he's certainly got an opportunity to come in here and impress everyone and look to make it permanent."

Carbone, who agreed to the loan deal after initially insisting he would only consider a permanent offer, added in a statement released later by the club: "It's always important for me to play in the Premier League and now I've got another chance to play for a big team.

"This is one of the best in the Premier League and now I've got a chance to show what I can do.

"I know a lot of the players. I know the coaches Steve Harrison and Paul Barron and I know Gareth Southgate, Ugo Ehiogu, Paul Ince, Gianluca Festa and Dean Windass."

Carbone, who is likely to make his debut at home to Leeds today, arrived in England in October 1996 after playing for six different Italian clubs, including Napoli and Inter Milan, and has had spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa, Bradford City and Derby County.

Cash-strapped Bradford's gamble to hand him a huge wage packet - believed to be in excess of #40,000 a week - has proved costly in more ways than one after their relegation from the Premiership last season.

But McClaren, who has spent his first six or seven months in charge at the Riverside Stadium working to reduce the wage bill, insists Carbone's short-term recruitment is no risk.

"It's a three-month loan, basically until the end of the season," he said.

"So it's a case of really doing it until then and then hoping in the summer that you can create openings to make the move permanent - as long as it goes well for both us and the player.

"It boils down to us giving him an opportunity to play football, but also convincing him this wasn't short-term, that we were bringing him in and if things went well, there was the capability of making it permanent."